Toronto businesses ask for accountability from Metrolinx on Ontario Line subway
CTV
Businesses across Toronto that will be impacted by the construction of the Ontario Line subway are asking Metrolinx for transparency and accountability over the course of the project,
Businesses across Toronto that will be impacted by the construction of the Ontario Line subway are asking Metrolinx for transparency and accountability over the course of the project, following widespread criticism of the transit agency’s handling of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT.
The Ontario Line, which will run from Exhibition Place, along Queen Street in the downtown and north along Pape Avenue to the Ontario Science Centre, is the centre piece of a $28.5 billion transit expansion plan for the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area announced in 2019.
Construction has already begun, but is set to intensify in the spring, when Queen Street will be closed to traffic from Bay to Victoria streets until 2027.
This will be followed by other partial closures of roadways along the line over the next several years.
John Kiru, Executive Director of the Toronto Association of Business Improvement Areas (TABIA), says that business owners across the city are in favour of transit projects such as the Ontario Line, but they also have concerns about the negative impacts they can bring.
“BIAs, local business people, our organization; we're all in support of transit and our ability to get around. Congestion is a big issue and this is one way of dealing with it by bringing people into the downtown for entertainment, for work and everything else. So nobody here’s on a mission to try to stop the project,” Kiru said.
“But the reality is, if the [Eglinton] Crosstown is any indication, these kinds of projects have an impact on the local community. We understand that the long term impact will be of benefit to the businesses and to the economic and social wellbeing of the community, but the question becomes, will those businesses last long enough to actually benefit from that?”
